Ruined
by Scarlet Secret
Summary: For thirty years Minerva had made her suffer and she was to much of a coward to say she was wrong.


_"I think a lifetime ban ought to do the trick…"_

That was all Minerva heard. Oh, she knew that the Umbridge woman blabbered on for a little while longer about how justified she was but that was the point that the Deputy-Headmistress fell into a reverie of her own, staring at the ugly toad woman but lost in memory.

Thirty years before she had stood in the same office with an eighteen year old Rita Skeeter, who's blue and silver Quidditch robes had gleamed, with her broom slung sullenly over her shoulder. She had caught the young woman off guard as she went to her training and Rita was at least trying not to look annoyed but she was the Captain and it couldn't really start without her. In the politest words possible she had told Minerva this but the teacher had ignored her. 

A week before their meeting Alice had come sobbing to Minerva, saying all her notes had gone missing and this close to the exams she really didn't have time to do them again and she was supposed to be the best in her year group and she wanted to be an Auror so she needed the best results. After calming her student the Head Girl had immediately accused Rita Skeeter and Bellatrix Black, the two students who hated her most and the only two who would be clever enough to break through the charms to her private rooms. Minerva had agreed with this and so here she stood with Skeeter.

When she finally revealed the nature of the meeting Rita had denied it fervently but Minerva hadn't believed her. The star Quidditch played had insisted upon hers and Bellatrix's innocence but really they were known to have a fairly nasty streak between them and everybody knew that they thoroughly disliked the Head Girl who they felt got favouritism, so Minerva hadn't taken the denials all that seriously. What she had taken seriously was the thought that the Head Girl might suffer because of two spiteful girls.

So she had made Rita suffer. She had banned her from playing Quidditch. The moment the words had left her mouth she knew it was the worst thing she could have possibly done to Rita except cut her head off. The girl had gone into absolute hysterics, begging and sobbing and swearing on her mother's grave that she was innocent. But she hasn't been a Gryffindor and Minerva had found no lenience for her.

When Rita had fallen to her knees in front of the teacher and offered her _anything_ to change her mind she had been disgusted and given her detention to boot. When she had sobbed herself into unconsciousness she had not wavered under the glare sent at her by the matron. She knew after all that Rita had had so many injuries and spent so long in the Hospital Wing that the nurse had developed a soft spot for her so she was biased and her opinion worthless. When Xiomara Hooch had raged at her for banning what could potentially be the best Quidditch played of her generation from been scouted by the teams, she had scoffed at Rita's skill, saying she was nothing special. (Here Minerva was, most definitely, wrong.) Even when Bellatrix Black had shown an admirable amount of courage and argued against the teacher's decision, shouting about what a bastard Rita's father was and how a career in Quidditch was her only was out she had ignored the girl completely and given her detention till Graduation.

The scouts came, but Rita didn't play and they left with no new signings. Bellatrix stood by Rita until the end of term but was unable to support her friend helpfully due to a crippling amount of detention. Hooch and Pomfrey had never really liked her ever since and Rita had barely scraped through her exams. She's had to lie to several employers about those results and she'd been lying expertly ever since.

Alice did phenomenally well, she had in the end shared Frank Longbottom's notes and Minerva liked to think she had at lest helped in that happiness. Frank told her on their wedding day that he'd hidden the notes, in hope that she'd spend more time with him and it had worked. Alice had been thrilled by the romantic gesture she had never known about.

Minerva had felt the world fall around her. She'd never told anybody that she'd been wrong, but she had never been able to face Rita again. Through the years she had tried several times to build up the courage to apologise but she fell apart every time. For thirty years he'd watched Rita Skeeter, who had once burned so bright and brilliant fall into a filthy world. At eighteen Rita had been willing to offer herself to get what she wanted and Minerva knew the world was a lot less moral that she was and they would have taken it. She had been in the Three Broomsticks and watched Rita arrive drunk and get steadily worse until Rosmerta either threw her out or dragged her upstairs to recover, all the time glaring at the teacher, knowing it was her fault that Rita was smashed once again. When the woman had been at the school last year it had been impossible and she had seen something that had nearly made her cry. Coming around a corner she had heard wheezing and coughing and found Rita, once so strong and athletic fighting to catch her breath. Swallowing a comment about that being what thirty years of smoking did to you she ran before the younger woman saw her.

When she had been harassing Hermione Granger she knew she should have done something but knew it was her fault that both of them were suffering. She had made the mistake of smiling at Hermione, something she did rarely, but sometimes there were students that warranted some signs of affection and Hermione was one of them. But Rita had seen it and immediately jumped on it, punishing Minerva by punishing her favourite student, this time properly. She knew she could have stopped the stories as easily as Hermione had done, she knew all about Rita being Animagi but she couldn't bring herself to turn her in. Even being in the same room with her was horrendous.

She had created the monster of Rita Skeeter, or at least pushed her to it as a career choice and she had to live with the guilt of the people that Rita ruined.

Harry Potter and one of the Weasley twins were staring at her, no expression in their faces for a moment before the agony of what they had lost became apparent. There was no bawling though, no kicking and screaming, no offers of inappropriate prostitution, no collapse from the two young men. They left without another word to her and she sank into her chair.

And sobbed.


End file.
